This was a really busy– but ultimately really good– week for me.
Last week, I was (pre?) diagnosed with a sleep disorder– Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome, which sounds totally fake but isn’t. Basically, my circadian rhythm is off, which is why I stay awake so late (even with Ambien!) and then feel impossibly paralyzed in the mornings. I’m meeting with a specialized sleep psychologist next month, and in the meantime, I had blood work done to see if it’s safe for me to go back onto Risperdal. I took that tiny .5 mg (notice that is POINT-FIVE not FIVE mg) pill for eight years, and when I went off of it (maybe six months ago?), I’ve just gone haywire. I know that for most people, mornings are not fun. But, for me, they’ve been impossible. I don’t know how else to explain it.
My favorite kiddos came over on Saturday, and later I found a sweet note from the six year old. Allow me to translate: “Ava loves Jackie’s house.” Jak E with a backward J leaves you with cake. I like cake.
My editor was in the Twin Cities, so we hung out on Monday, brainstorming and discussing Salt Novel as well as writing and publishing in general and all the things we’ve been learning lately. It was wonderful! I left feeling energized to write and excited about my manuscript. Now to find more time …
The rest of the week consisted of therapy (yay), haircut (yay) and dye job (yay? see pics.), getting paid for the German translation of Truest (YAY), and ice cream with my bestie (major yay).
How about you? I can’t believe July is half over. Where is summer going? I’m ready for cooler temps (it’s been in the nineties in Minnesota and miserably humid, though the end of this week was better) but I’m not ready for the ruckus of fall recruitment quite yet.
Think of me as I sort out my sleep/novel/work/life.
JACKIE LEA SOMMERS 
what does the last part of ava’s note say?? has??
Yes, but it’s “house.”
I actually suspect the same for myself regarding dosd. Mornings suck on a different level entirely.
It’s the worst, isn’t it??? Some days it’s literally impossible for me to get out of bed. So I don’t.
I generally schedule my life around it. In other words I work in the afternoons. I am generally a night owl. It doesn’t seem to matter what I take to make me sleep, my sleep pattern degrades to night owl status.
I actually submitted paperwork to HR to see if I can shift my hours!
Keep us posted about your sleep. I hope it gets sorted out, and I’m curious on a personal level as my 17-year-old can’t get to sleep for anything and cannot get up and function. Best of luck!
Thanks, Angie! I will definitely update as I figure things out. It goes so far beyond being a night owl and/or not being a morning person. It’s honestly kept me fairly sick to the point where I miss about a day of work every week. Yuck!